Breakfast Ball #37: Rasmus Rattles Rory to Win

A great week in September golf! Royal County Down was absolutely beautiful. The Irish Open needs a prime spot in the golfing calendar. More to come on that in the offseason.

In This Week’s Newsletter:

Rasmus Højgaard Emerges from the Shadows to WIN the Irish Open ahead of Rory McIlroy

Rasmus Højgaard has had to be patient. While his twin brother Nicolai was winning the DP World Tour Championship and representing Europe in the 2023 Ryder Cup, Rasmus watched from the sidelines, cheering on his brother. It was a bittersweet experience—filled with pride for Nicolai’s success but tinged with the frustration of wanting to reach the same heights. For the first time, the brothers’ careers diverged: Nicolai made the leap to the PGA Tour, while Rasmus stayed on the DP World Tour. But now, that gap has closed.

Rasmus Højgaard assured himself of a PGA Tour card and leads the European Ryder Cup team rankings after a win at the Irish Open in Royal County Down. Højgaard: “The timing is perfect. You know, I’ve set a couple goals that I want to achieve, and one of them was getting a PGA TOUR card this year, and the other one is Ryder Cup next year.” Consider those goals achieved. Højgaard birdied 4 of the last 5 holes to snatch the title from Rory McIlroy, who was playing in his home county for the first time since the Irish Open was last at Royal County Down in 2015.

McIlroy went into the final day with a one shot lead ahead of Matteo Manassero, but was unable to come out with the victory. A costly 3-putt on the 17th hole meant that he needed an eagle on the par-5 18th to force a playoff. McIlroy hit a towering approach from 191 yards to 10 feet, but the putt agonizingly missed to the right and Højgaard took the title.

It was another close call for McIlroy in a year that will be remembered for close calls. McIlroy: “I am getting used to it this year unfortunately, but hopefully the tides going to turn here pretty soon and I can turn these close calls into victories”. While this certainly won’t have hurt as much as the US Open, winning his national open in his home county would have been a special victory for McIlroy. He is going to have to show some resolve to come back and finish his season in style.

The United States Win the Solheim Cup for Their First Victory since 2017

In 2023 at Marco Simone, the European Ryder Cup team stormed onto the course, seized an early lead, and never looked back. The 2024 U.S. Solheim Cup team seemed to take inspiration from that playbook, jumping out to an early advantage and ultimately securing a 15.5-12.5 victory. This win was especially sweet for the Americans, who hadn’t claimed the Solheim Cup in the previous three editions, including a tough loss on home soil in 2021. A key factor in their struggles had been poor performance in the four-ball format, where they had lost five consecutive sessions to the Europeans.

This time was different. World No. 1 Nelly Korda led the charge, featuring in the first pairing of each session. She won her matches decisively—3&2 with Alison Corpuz and 6&4 alongside Megan Khang. The U.S. started strong, winning the morning foursomes 3-1, and carried that momentum into the afternoon, shaking off their four-ball woes by taking the session 3-1 and building a commanding 6-2 lead. Europe couldn’t claw their way back, and despite splitting the Saturday matches, they entered the final day trailing 10-6.

Sunday’s singles saw Europe make an early statement, as Charley Hull, tasked with taking on Korda, put on a dominant performance. Playing the first 14 holes in 7-under, Hull secured a 6&4 victory. This sparked hope for the Europeans, who needed to win 8 of the 12 singles matches to retain the cup. Hull’s victory ignited a potential comeback, but the pivotal moment came in the match between the USA’s Lilia Vu and Europe’s Albane Valenzuela. Valenzuela held a two-hole lead with just two to play, but Vu responded brilliantly. She drained a 15-foot birdie putt on the 17th and followed it up by hitting a wedge to within three feet on the 18th to halve the match and clinch the cup for Team USA.

This Solheim Cup was another groundbreaking edition, with record-breaking attendance, a 200% increase in sponsorship revenue, and anticipated record viewership. The women’s game continues to grow in prominence, and while Europe fell short this time, they’ll undoubtedly take lessons from this defeat as they look toward a comeback in the Netherlands in 2026.

Other News and Results

• 🇪🇸 Jon Rahm won LIV Chicago and the season-long LIV individual title after a three stroke victory ahead of Sergio Garcia and Joaquin Niemann

  • Rahm was dominant at Bolingbrook Golf Club, posting scores of 64 and 66 over the weekend

  • Despite a difficult season in the majors, Rahm has been incredible on LIV and will go into 2025 with confidence that he can get back to his best on the biggest stages - More to come on his Ryder Cup eligibility next week

  • Bubba Watson finished 3rd last in the season-long standings, but because he is a team captain he will have his card again next year. Yet another reason it is difficult to take LIV seriously

• 🐻 Patton Kizzire won the Procore Championship in the first event of the PGA Tour’s fall season

  • These events are mainly for players outside of the top 70 of the FedEx Cup rankings who are trying to secure their PGA Tour card for next season

  • The top 125 players are assured of a spot on tour next year

Coming up this week on Tour

• The DP World Tour’s signature event at the BMW Championship in Wentworth

  • All of the available European Ryder Cup team from 2023 (LIV and injured players excluded) will be playing

• The LIV Golf Team Championship takes place in Dallas

• The Korn Ferry Tour (2nd tier below PGA Tour) reaches its penultimate event at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship

  • Europeans Kris Ventura, Jeremy Paul, and Thomas Rosenmueller will be looking to secure their PGA Tour cards for 2025

If you have any feedback for the newsletter or would like to get in touch, I would love to hear from you! Email [email protected] or message us on Twitter/X at @BlueHorizonGolf. Thank you for reading!